Test Driving the Zeny Cut 50 Plasma Cutter

Recognizing the resemblance of the small Zeny Cut 50 plasma cutter, Kevin reminisces about his childhood lunchbox, which had Wonder Woman on it. Then he gets down to business.

Travis, one of his fans in Phoenix, lent Kevin his Zeny plasma cutter for a test drive.

Kevin shows the control panel, with the hookup for the ground clamp, the control cable for the torch button, the torch hookup, the amperage knob and LCD display. There is also a 2.5 and 5 second toggle switch. Kevin didn't get a book, so he thinks they may control how long the torch runs if it doesn't sense contact with metal.

On the back, you see the pressure regulator, which is included, and the power input, which can be 110 or 220.

The torch is basic. There is no safety on the button other than the fact that there is no pilot arc. So you have to push the button and touch the tip of the cutter to the metal to get the arc to start to begin cutting.

Kevin fires up the machine. The Zeny is plugged into 110 and is showing 20 amps at the bottom and 57 amps at the top.

"We've got it running - let's make some sparks!"

Set at 25 amps, Kevin is going to cut some 16 gauge steel. He puts on his welding safety equipment and easily cuts through the metal.

He bumps up the amperage to 35 and has a piece of 1/8" plate steel with some welds on it clamped to the bench. The practice welds on the metal will give the plasma cutter a little something to play with. The plasma cutter struggles, so Kevin turns up the machine to 40 amps. It cuts the 1/8" plate, but looks like it was done with a dull chainsaw. "It was having trouble with the bumpy welds," says Kevin.

Next Kevin tries to cut a piece of 1/4" aluminum at 45 amps. "Boy, it really doesn't like the thicker stuff," he says.

Still, he decides to try to cut a piece of 1/2" steel plate. The Zeny plasma cutter did not even penetrate all the way through the half-inch steel plate. "I think we found the limit," says Kevin.

At least running on 110. Because Travis lent him the machine, Kevin didn't want to rewire the plug so it could run at 220, so the Zeny plasma cutter could likely do better.

Especially if you only have 110, at $236, the Zeny is a good starter plasma cutter. You have to consider it a consumable in the United States, though, as you probably would not be able to get service for it here.

Kevin thanked Travis for loaning him the Zeny, but he'll stick with his AHP and Everlast plasma cutters.

Finally, Kevin is ready to go back to work, but you might want to stick around for another moment to see Kevin swallow ... well, something ....